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November 12, 2011

quest for the perfect mascara

This post is a bit old but somehow it had gotten lost so I thought I'd re-post. Besides many of it still applies-- in fact more so than ever as I just finished another round of experimenting with mascaras...I thought maybe I could save some money and go back to Maybelline's iconic Great Lash-- but alas, two weeks of raccoon eyes galore have found me scampering back to the much more expensive Lancome Definicils. Here's the original post.

I've been looking for the perfect mascara forever. Here's the problem, I have thin, straight little lashes that just aren't noticeable. So I to make them curl, I do what most women do, I curl them with a lash curler. Great! Look at the wide-eyed effect! I think I see better already.

Now to make them really stand out-- mascara! So began THE QUEST....Many years later, dozens of tossed aside little black tubes, a zillion or more types of brushes, and here's what I've learned:

First, water-based mascaras straighten out that freshly curled, bright-eyed effect. This rather painful lesson came after experimenting with dozens of mascaras, reading tons of reviews, and losing many a lash. My greatest hopes went to a $22.00 Vincent Longo Mascara-- a great brand that is water based and claims to be fairly gentle to sensitive skin-- but alas, it too straigtened my lashes and I found myself at Sephora returning yet another hapless tube....I also bought the $22.00 Blinc mascara. Blinc's claim to fame is that although water-based, it is waterproof. It does this by creating little tubes that wrap around each lash. Finally, the most amazing thing about this little mascara, it comes off with just water. For the most part, this was an incredible mascara, but *gasp* it also straightened my lashes. I wanted so much to like this mascara because of all the other cool things about it that I spent 2 weeks re-curling my lashes after applying the mascara. Unfortunately, the same technology that makes those little tubes also makes the lashes very difficult to re-curl...I lost many lashes this way and finally gave up.

But all was not lost, there were still the WATERPROOF mascaras to go through! And go through them I did. Since these mascaras are not water-based, they didn't straighten out my lashes....but I hit another problem. Typically, waterproof mascaras require an oil-based make-up remover. Unfortunately, this removal process also seemed to apply to the natural oils on my skin or daily moisturizer. I suddenly had great, nicely curled lashes but raccoon eyes....This was true no matter what mascara I tried. I tried drugstore brands with great reviews, I tried Dior and others from Sephora. I finally found the one I liked the most-- Definicils by Lancome, but that too caused raccoon eyes if i applied it to my lower lashes.

Finally, the solution:

After several days with raccoon eyes, I weighed the cost of going back to Blinc, but the first time I pulled out another lash as I was trying tor re-curl, I knew this couldn't be the answer... Now, I wear Lancome Definicils Waterproof on my top lashes and Blinc on my lower lashes. If I don't rub too much, my mascara stays on all day and no raccoon eyes. I still have a slight problem with the removal since each product requires such different removal processes...but I'll keep you updated.